At ABCNews, Jake Tapper had the temerity to round-up pieces from Kathleen Geier of TPM, Joe Klein of Time, James Wolcott of Vanity Fair and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews — not exactly a vast right-wing conspiracy — all noting that enthusiasm for Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign occasionally slides over into a distinctly creepy, pseudo-religious fervor.
Some prominent left-liberal bloggers had a conniption. Will Bunch declared Tapper’s piece “the scariest thing I’ve read in a while.” John Amato fully concurred. Both declaring that “The Villagers” (apparently a term applied to the Beltway press if you see the people just mentioned as conservative) will not stand for enthusiasm for Obama (but would for McCain).  At Liberal Values, Ron Chusid writes:
Maybe I’ve been lucky and have only encountered the better material, but most of what I read from Obama supporters is based upon rational comparisons of the candidates without using the type of religious fervor Tapper describes.
Certainly, more is published on the Internet than anyone can read. Accordingly, as a public service, what follows are excerpts from those oh-so-obscure folks writing the Book of Obama.
In the beginning, there was the prophet Oprah:
“It’s amazing grace that brought me here,” she began, adding that she was “stepping out of my pew” – television – to engage in politics.
***
Winfrey also recalled a story from “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” a 1974 film based on Ernest Gaines’ 1971 novel.
In Winfrey’s telling, the protagonist – an old woman who had survived slavery and the Civil War – would ask every child, “Are you the one? Are you the one?”
“I do believe I do today we have the answer to Miss Pittman’s question – it’s a question that the entire nation is asking – is he the one?” Winfrey said. “South Carolina – I do believe he’s the one.”
According to one academic discussion of the book by Christopher Mulvey, a professor at University of Winchester in the United Kingdom, the passage continues to ask whether the child is the one who will “carry part of our cross,” a “messianic figure.”
And Oprah begat Ezra Klein:
He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh, over color, over despair.
And Klein begat semi-doubting publius:
Obama is offering something we often don’t have, but that we similarly crave and need – a higher purpose, a sense of connectedness and community. In short, Obama is providing a secular religion. More cynically, it’s wine-track demagoguery.
Although I remain an Obama supporter, I do fear that I’m allowing myself to be enchanted in an intellectually juvenile way.
And publius begat Excitable Andy the Pious, asking “Obama Christ, Superstar?”
Somehow, Bunch, Amato and Chusid missed a phenomenon flowing from one of the most recognizable people in the world, and already echoed by some of the more prominent bloggers in America.  Tapper, Geier, Klein, Wolcott and Matthews are doing what journalists typically do — examining the appeal of a politician reaching a new level of popularity and credibility in a presidential campaign. To see it as part of an anti-Obama animus, let alone as part of some pro-McCain bias, is to be every bit as immersed in hyperbole as are the worshippers in the Church of Obama.
(h/t Memeorandum.)
Comment by Dan Collins on 2/7 @ 7:04 pm #
Geez, I really would like to do the rock opera.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 2/7 @ 7:13 pm #
well…..the bad thing about this is that homo sapiens sapiens is hardwired to believe in demigogues…..which was the most turrible fear of the Founders, and wat they tried to prevent. in the environment of evolutionary advantage [EEA] following around after some percieved superhuman really was advantageous to your tribe….also religion was advantageous.
so..tryin to persuade ppl that Obama is ur basic vaporware cult figure of no substance is like tryin to persuade ppl not to believe in jesus bein the son of god, etc. etc.
not possible.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 2/7 @ 7:21 pm #
or perhaps it is a good thing.
im not sure.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 2/7 @ 7:26 pm #
anyways the ppl that peg on the distribution as permeable to this sort of thing will hav….hero-worship i guess for Obama.
like publius i recognize that i am susceptible.
but…..i think it is healthy and normal.
and im so frackin tired of aged cauc guys thinkin they can fix the world.
im more than ready for changeyness and hopeyness.
Comment by Alec Leamas on 2/7 @ 7:26 pm #
Well, the funny inverse thing is that McCain actually suffered, perhaps not like Christ, but . . .
And Obama has clearly never been punched in the nose.
The good news is – nobody can fill the messiah shoes for very long.
Comment by Drumwaster on 2/7 @ 7:35 pm #
You realize that using l33+sp3@k when not actually texting your BFF makes you sound like an idiot, no matter how serious your message might be, don’t you? (I bring this up to display the training you have had somewhere to know the taxonomic nomenclature, yet not smart enough to be able to use standard English.
Or too immature to notice the difference. Pick one.
Should they leave it to people who think Hannah Montana is the key to peace? Or the Kumbayah Singers?
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 2/7 @ 7:51 pm #
actually hannahmontana wud make a good meme warrior….but im not familiar with those singers.
when i wuz a guest blogger here i recieved deaththreats over my “style”! often on the very same post that Dr. Yes (the instapundit) linked, hehe.
i dont care, yah see.
put me on scrollby.
;)
Comment by happyfeet on 2/7 @ 7:58 pm #
Don’t you realize? The next time you see sky, it’ll be over another town. The next time you take a test, it’ll be in some other school. Our parents, they want the best of stuff for us. But right now, they got to do what’s right for them. Because it’s their time. Their time! Up there! Down here, it’s our time. It’s our time down here. Obama time! That’s all over the second we ride up Troy’s bucket.
Comment by JD on 2/7 @ 8:00 pm #
Hannah Montana is the key to peace?
Oh, good Allah, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 2/7 @ 8:03 pm #
wow that is just beautiful happyfeet.
i bow to u.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 2/7 @ 8:05 pm #
did i say that?
i said she was a good meme-warrior, a propagandist for western culture.
Comment by Rusty on 2/7 @ 8:11 pm #
#5
Yeah. Before too long the mob gets ahold of ya.
Comment by lee on 2/7 @ 8:24 pm #
did i say that?
No, no you didn’t.
Drumwaster did.
Comment by McGehee on 2/7 @ 8:33 pm #
Maybe it’s my Catholic upbringing again, but I have this visceral reaction to such fervent enthusiasm about anything that eats and breathes and shits. As far as I know, all of the most likely Next POTUSes are in the habit of eating, breathing and shitting at some time during the day.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 2/7 @ 8:35 pm #
well…..so did jesus.
Comment by Pablo on 2/7 @ 8:36 pm #
OPRAH!
Comment by Pablo on 2/7 @ 8:36 pm #
OBAMA!
Ed. – See how close those are?
Comment by Karl on 2/7 @ 8:39 pm #
UMA!
Comment by guinsPen on 2/7 @ 8:43 pm #
and im so frackin tired of aged cauc guys thinkin they can fix the world
No comment.
Comment by lee on 2/7 @ 8:45 pm #
well…..so did jesus.
Yeah, right up til that whole resurrection thing.
Comment by guinsPen on 2/7 @ 8:52 pm #
@ #19
Ok. Respectfully, nish’, so what’s the problem with the spawn of the British Empire? Worldwide, that is
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 2/7 @ 8:53 pm #
hehe
see?
wat i say.
Comment by guinsPen on 2/7 @ 8:57 pm #
And Greeks and stuff.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 2/7 @ 8:57 pm #
“so what’s the problem with the spawn of the British Empire?”
just ready for a fresh paradigm is all. praps Obama is it.
everything evolves….the section process is evolutionary, not revolutionary.
Comment by happyfeet on 2/7 @ 8:59 pm #
nishi I stoled that from the Goonies, which you probably know that but I should be clear cause one time someone complimented me on the lyrics to 99 Red Balloons and it was kind of embarrassing when someone was all like he so didn’t write that and, well, there’s that then.
Comment by guinsPen on 2/7 @ 9:00 pm #
Nevermind, I’ll ask Nagumo instead.
Comment by Pablo on 2/7 @ 9:01 pm #
Mmmmmmm…..Uma.
Comment by guinsPen on 2/7 @ 9:05 pm #
@ #24
Snds gd to me !!!
Comment by The Ouroboros on 2/7 @ 9:06 pm #
Obama Christ
Obama Christ
Who are you? What have you sacrificed?
Obama Christ
Superstar
Do you think you’re what they say you are?
Comment by Jack Klompus on 2/7 @ 9:07 pm #
For the record, Will Bunch is a one-dimensional tool who blames everything from his psoriasis to bad weather on George Bush. He writes for one of the most useless rags on the planet The Philadelphia Daily News which touts a political viewpoint that has turned Philly into a crime ridden, tax sucking, dirty urban hellhole that has been bleeding productive citizens for decades. Bunch is an assclown.
Comment by dicentra on 2/7 @ 9:07 pm #
Wow. This kind of thing is Right. Out. of Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism: someone ends up “embodying” the “will of the people” in such a mystic, transcendent way that it “goes beyond” ordinary categories.
The actual ideology is not important, only the feeling that there’s a “movement” afoot, change is in the air, and the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth is right around the corner.
If only we manage to “unite” behind this Messiah, who will use the levers of state power to take away all our pain and finally bring about the Utopia we’ve always yearned for.
This is what made Hitler and Mussolini popular: the promise of overturning the outdated system of democracy in favor of a state who truly loves you and takes care of you, not the genocide.
Though after you’ve drunk the Fascist Kool-Aid, getting rid of those who would bar True Progress doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.
Comment by guinsPen on 2/7 @ 9:09 pm #
I welcome our new Underpants Gnome Overlords !
Comment by Education Guy on 2/7 @ 9:12 pm #
I really sort of wish the folks on the left would wise up and notice that Obama is busy saying exactly nothing of substance. Mind you, he does that very well, but at the end of his speaking he has told you not one thing that you can use. If he gets the nod, I expect Wall Street to have a very bad day because they tend to notice things like that.
Comment by E. Nough on 2/7 @ 9:52 pm #
From Obama’s foreign policy page:
You have to hand it to the guy: that is some exquisitely written meaningless drivel. Anyone here reminded of The Distinguished Gentleman? “…and furthermore, read my lips!”
Comment by maggie katzen on 2/7 @ 9:54 pm #
unless you’re Iraqi. ugh, sorry.
Comment by McGehee on 2/7 @ 10:01 pm #
BLASPHEMER!!!!
NO HUCKABEE FOR YOU!!!
Comment by McGehee on 2/7 @ 10:03 pm #
What you’re really saying is, he speaks their language.
Comment by Education Guy on 2/7 @ 10:15 pm #
Maybe that’s why Hillary isn’t a big hit on the left. When she tells them that she is going to take their stuff for the common good they find that to be more bluntness than they can appreciate.
We’re gonna take yer stuff.
Your words, they burns usssss.
Then again, maybe it’s just the cankles.
Comment by E. Nough on 2/7 @ 10:21 pm #
You know, on second thought, maybe what Obama is spouting isn’t random pap. Is it possible he has based his entire campaign on the lyrics to John Parr’s “St. Elmo’s Fire”?
Comment by happyfeet on 2/7 @ 10:38 pm #
Um. All we want is life beyond the Thunderdome, really. Thanks, though.
Comment by Harry on 2/7 @ 10:50 pm #
And we picked lousy Juan McCain. ARRRRGGHHH!
Comment by daleyrocks on 2/7 @ 10:54 pm #
Feets, this ain’t no Bartertown. How ya gonna tax that shit anyway. There is a lot of pig feces fueling the left though, I’ll give you that and Hillary could be a good Auntie Entity.
Comment by KJH on 2/7 @ 10:56 pm #
Future blashpemy is Oprah?
You know that guy’s name was Neo, the one. He was damned to a computer world, he was a programmer, go figure, and there was allot of the writer trying to write. What’s funny is no one could figure Neo was damned by his employer and driven insane because he cost too much. It’s supposed to be a TV at the UN where you can stare through someone’s eyes and hear through there ears as they travel back in time, but that would be too much like lucifer who will stare through your eyes and use your ears, so it’s really not a luciferian, but a TV from Satan.
Oprah wants to visit little African girls in Africa. Why?
Okay, so i sold the planet, not just the city employees.
Comment by happyfeet on 2/7 @ 11:06 pm #
And people criticize nishi.
Comment by KJH on 2/7 @ 11:08 pm #
Okay, it wasn’t just the planet, it was everything in existence because all the TV, the device, does is ‘make’ everything, which is everything, which is what it’s real purpose is; to cease everything it made, which was why Satan invented the TV, which is why God used to for it is really for, which is what we chose, bye bye.
Comment by JohnAnnArbor on 2/7 @ 11:11 pm #
In Winfrey’s telling, the protagonist – an old woman who had survived slavery and the Civil War – would ask every child, “Are you the one? Are you the one?â€Â
“I do believe I do today we have the answer to Miss Pittman’s question – it’s a question that the entire nation is asking – is he the one?†Winfrey said. “South Carolina – I do believe he’s the one.â€Â
What, the Kwisatz Haderach?
Comment by maggie katzen on 2/7 @ 11:13 pm #
how sad will he be when his name becomes a killing word?
Comment by JJ on 2/7 @ 11:20 pm #
“We’re all here to come together – to appreciate our uniqueness and to treasure our diversity, and we’re here to evolve to a higher plane,” she said.
Now that’s just scary.
Comment by Estela on 2/7 @ 11:30 pm #
Is it becoming like a cult already? Or could it be that the people just need someone new?
Comment by JohnAnnArbor on 2/7 @ 11:30 pm #
He’ll wonder how it could have happened, maggie. After all, he had good intentions!
Comment by B Moe on 2/7 @ 11:35 pm #
After all, he had good intentions!
Well that is a plus, with oil prices climbing asphalt is getting a bit expensive for paving.
Comment by daleyrocks on 2/7 @ 11:44 pm #
Is it becoming like a cult already?
With cults, somebody is usually making some good coin. Just look at Al Gore and global warming.
Comment by thor on 2/7 @ 11:44 pm #
Obama is cool. When Obama has a full gust in his sails he’s capable of very powerful and dramatic phrasing. He’s like John Fowles. You know you’re getting pulled in by a Marxist, but damnit, for a short moment it feels so good when the cool air hits your loins.
Will Obama deprogamming be made available for Medicare recipients?
Comment by Merovign on 2/7 @ 11:46 pm #
1) Instructs followers to avoid details and talk about “conversion experiences”
2) “We’re here to evolve to a higher plane”
3) “He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh”
4) Find hidden cave in mountainous region, stock with food and ammunition.
Seriously, how many other people are SERIOUSLY creeped out by this “movement?”
I mean, I don’t think we’re talking nationwide Jonestown here. But it’s really, really creepy.
Did I mention that it’s creepy?
Comment by JohnAnnArbor on 2/7 @ 11:54 pm #
It’s ookey.
Comment by E. Nough on 2/8 @ 12:02 am #
Remember all those people who had to seek psychiatric help after Kerry’s 2004 loss? Should Obama lose (either to Hillary or McCain), I’m guessing Zoloft sales will skyrocket.
Comment by MayBee on 2/8 @ 12:27 am #
I’m guessing the idea to write the stories about the Obama psuedo-religious fervor came from the Clinton camp. Remember it was Peter Daou that encouraged the Gleens to write that Bush supporters were cultists.
It’s just kind of interesting (if not entirely off the mark) that all these journalists suddenly decided this was a thing.
Comment by Karl on 2/8 @ 12:43 am #
MayBee,
I heard Tapper asked that question on talk radio Thursday. He denied it, though obviously could not speak for those he linked. Geier is ostensibly an Obama supporter. But Klein and Walcott? I could see it.
Comment by MayBee on 2/8 @ 12:51 am #
Karl- thanks for telling me that. I’ve never figured Tapper out, but I’ll believe him. Lately I’ve been watching Chris Matthews again, for some odd reason, and his big thing with the Clintons is how often their story becomes the narrative. He brings it back to the New Hampshire “Comeback Kid” bit from the 1992 election.
Obviously, Peter Daou is doing something, because he’s still with the campaign but I hardly ever see his name. He must be contacting someone about something.
For the record, did Jake Tapper deny that he had heard anything of the sort from the Clinton camp? Did he just stumble upon Klein and Walcott’s writings?
Comment by daleyrocks on 2/8 @ 1:07 am #
I thought the Sasquatch thingee was like a snow ape, not a Magic Negro, but maybe I’m getting confused.
Comment by Karl on 2/8 @ 1:36 am #
MayBee,
Tapper gave a flat denial of ever hearing that notion from the Clinton camp. He’s a lefty (used to write for Salon), but he didn’t sound uncomfy when the question was asked.
I suspect he picked it up just from his regular reading. I’ve noticed people talking about the Obamessiah for some time, but then again, in Chicago, you get the statue.
Comment by Ermar on 2/8 @ 3:11 am #
According to one academic discussion of the book by Christopher Mulvey, a professor at University of Winchester in the United Kingdom, the passage continues to ask whether the child is the one who will “carry part of our cross,â€Âa “messianic figure.â€Â
I need more explanations into that Opra!… I want to be enlightened.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 2/8 @ 6:42 am #
Yeah! What have the British ever done for the world?!
Besides the idea of freedom.
And self-determination.
And innocent-until-proven-guilty.
And a jury of your peers.
And…
Nishi, you’re dangerously close to “change for change’s sake” in that sentiment. Down that road lies madness.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 2/8 @ 6:47 am #
If there are shortages, someone’s going to suffer horribly.
At my hands.
Comment by MayBee on 2/8 @ 9:26 am #
Thanks again, Karl.
The only thing I can add to the conversation at this point is to say that Tapper is pretty cute.
Comment by happyfeet on 2/8 @ 9:31 am #
Tapper is pretty cute maybe but he has a makeup person and a stylist. Just saying. It’s all illusion. TV peoples. You ever wonder how many pairs of shoes Anderson Cooper owns? I have.
Comment by jdm on 2/8 @ 9:32 am #
I’m guessing Zoloft sales will skyrocket.
Yes!
Pfizer shareholder.
Comment by MayBee on 2/8 @ 9:37 am #
happyfeet- remember they also have good lighting. If I were ever really rich, I’d hire a lighting crew to go everywhere with me.
Comment by happyfeet on 2/8 @ 9:39 am #
Good point. Good lighting really is the only thing that combats the ravages of high-def.
Comment by Slartibartfast on 2/8 @ 9:51 am #
Better yet, do the sock opera, where you get all the lines.
Comment by Gabriel Fry on 2/8 @ 11:05 am #
Me, I worry that if Obama gets a terrorist attack to play off of, it will suddenly become unpatriotic to question the substance behind his big talk about new paradigms and dramatic transformations. It will become declasse in the same way that questioning Bush’s Underpants Gnome theory of national security (1. Invade Iraq, 2. ?, 3. Breathe easy) became the province of conspiracy theorists and BDS sufferers.
That would be pretty distressing, no?
Comment by ushie on 2/8 @ 12:21 pm #
If I said Obama is reminding me of Huey Long, will anyone be upset?
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